Andrew Goodwin proposed a theory about conventions in music videos. He suggested that music videos follow certain rules and codes to promote artists and make money for record companies. Goodwin's theory identified five main aspects necessary in music videos to help promote songs and artists: 1) narrative and performance, 2) use of the artist's image, 3) relating lyrics to visuals, 4) technical aspects of production, and 5) conveying the artist's interpretation of the song's "thought beats."

1. Andrew Goodwin’s theory
By Dom Coleman

2. Goodwin’s theory wrote about his view on
music videos and suggested that they all follow
certain rules or codes & conventions. Music
videos follow these codes & conventions so that
they promote an artist and most importantly so
that the record companies can make money off
the artists.

3. Goodwin’s theory consists of the main
aspect which are a necessity in music videos
which contributes to help promote the
song/artist.
1) Narrative and Performance
2) Stars (Star image)
3) Lyrics relating to visuals (story)
4) Technical aspects of the video
5) Thought beats (seeing the sound in your
head)

4. Narrative & Performance
The narrative is the story of the music video,
the narrative consists of the link between
music/lyrics and the visuals and what the story’s
meaning is.
The performance of the artists acting and
body language used to show the story within
the music video. The audience play close
attention to this, if the acting is poor the video
won’t attract a big audience.

5. Stars
Using the artists face in the music video (close
ups) creates a star image for the audience.
Newer upcoming artists are more likely to show
close ups of them so that they can show their
face to possibly gain a larger audience and to
establish themselves more. More established
artists may not show their identity as much in
music videos because the audience already
recognise their voice.

6. Lyrics relating to visuals
This is self explanatory, the lyrics which are
being sung by the artist(s) relate to what is being
produced in the music video. This convention is
affective because audiences would enjoy
watching how the artist interprets his/her lyrics
onto a screen.

7. Technical aspects of the video
The technical aspects of the video consists of
the micro features (mise-en-scene, editing,
cinematography, lighting and use of effects.)
The lighting and use of effects sets the mood of
the video, if there is low key lighting this will
suggest that the video is sad and depressing.
The mise-en-scene is the most important as this
determines whether the video is professional or if it
is lacking quality. A video with good mise-en-scene
will show a clear setting producing a story for the
audience.

8. Thought beats
The thought beats is seeing the sound of the
music/beat inside of your head. It is how you
interpret the song and break it down inside your
head. E.g. breaking down the chorus and verses.
The music video creates the story the artist has
made, the artist is the creator of the story and
they are portraying their thoughts into the video
for the audience.